[Rumor Mill] Blazer, Knicks, rockets in preliminary talks; Carmelo Anthony likely involved

He averaged 17 points on a 55% efg% and 11 rebounds.

Now, he's NOT a good defender.

The bigger issue for the Cavs is they can't defend the Warriors, but really, nobody can. There is no team you can put together that can score with the Warriors AND defend the Warriors on their best day. Melo hasn't show that he can be any more effective defending the perimeter than Kevin Love, and if the answer to beating the Warriors is to trade Kevin Love's high efficiency threes for Melo's mid range game...I think the Warriors would be happy to accept that from the Cavs. If the Cavs actually let Melo run his own sets he would be the least efficient of their big 3 at that point. That's a win for the Warriors.

For the Rockets it makes sense to make the deal because we don't have Kyrie (Paul is better but he's not going to go create a ton of shots for himself). We need a guy who can go iso and get points other than Harden. The Cavs DON'T need that. Any iso Melo does for the Cavs is taking away from Kyrie and Lebron.

 

The Warriors are really good. One of the best teams of all time.

But they can be beat.

They pretty much ran through the gauntlet unscathed, but don't forget San Antonio was whooping dat ass before Kawhi got hurt. Also, they stomped the Cavs at home for the first two but the Cavs really had that third game in their hands. Cavs won game 4 and game 5 was pretty competitive.

The Cavs only had Lebron as a guy who could score and playmake for others. Kyrie is a great scorer, but he doesn't playmake for teammates all that well. But really it was just those two guys.

Thompson sucked, Love was sporadic...JR Smith had a couple good spurts...But no one else was all that noteworthy....Derron was bad, Richard Jefferson was solid I guess...Korver didn't do anything...

I think a team of Harden, Carmelo and Chris Paul with other guys on the team stepping up and playing well has a legit shot to take them down. Not a guarantee by any stretch. But I'd give them a really good chance.

 

Right, we could compete. The Warriors are still better on paper, but the gap is close enough to make it interesting.

 

He's a good player. But he's not the player Melo is. Carmelo is a SG in the body of PF. Love is a traditional PF and plays more like one

 

This is awesome Potato Bomb, but best served with a Potato Bomb chaser.

1 pint glass
12 oz Melo Yelo
1oz Real Russia OG Potato Vodka
Shot glass
1 Bag of Pop Rocks (optionally Mentos for a minty blast)

Pour Melo Yelo in pint glass. Pour Vodka in shot glass. Carefully drop shot glass of Vodka in the Melo. Pour in Pop Rocks and chug it.

 

Poor Mavs fans, they are such an after thought and don't even realize it....and screw the blind refs who didn't see Michael Finley out of bounds!!!

 

Exactly!

Especially if we keep solid versatile guys that can defend and shoot like Eric Gordon, Trevor Ariza, and (newly signed) PJ Tucker we should be able to at least compete with the Warriors in a 7 game series two road wins and you've pretty much got yourself a playoff series.

Clint Capela and Nene will be some really heavily counted on guys to defend the rim and provide some scoring in the post. I'm hoping Clint can refine his low post game a bit to provide some easy baskets at the rim when we're not running and shooting like crazy. We know what Nene provides just need him healthy for the entirety of the playoff run.

Capela
Melo
Ariza
Harden
CP3
___________

Eric Gordon
Nene
Qi
MCW*
VC*
Motiejunas?
Speights*

and some other bench fillers and we should be a legit contender.

Note - the asterisks (*) are for players that would fit or we have been linked to being interested in at some point. the question mark (?) is for who tf knows what the deal is with D-Mo the dreamo.

 

You are absolutely right about him not being the player Melo is. He's better.

 

The way people talk about the gap is ridiculous. They are one of the best teams ever, of course. However there are 3-4 teams in the West right now that historically could have won the conference at various points in history.

People talk about it with an assessment that would also mean no 3rd seed can beat a 2nd seed, or no 4th seed can beat a 3rd seed. The gap between us and OKC was just as huge, and you should have seen how many people - even on this board - saying we would lose, could lose or would have trouble. If WB wasn't such a poor bball iq player, that series at least goes to 7 games. A matter of shot selection.

Warriors distance form the average team is historic. Their distance from the 2nd best team is not that big, because not only are we in an era of the top team being historically incredible, but in this era start next season the 2nd and 3rd and 4th best teams are ALSO the most incredible 2nd, 3rd and 4th best teams in history.

I like what I've heard from some Spurs, and one of their players actually said it in the series against us: "We have to play a perfect game to beat them." That's so important. Pop has demonstrated year and year again, you can overcome talent so many ways: great system, great team work on both sides, and perfect execution. Execution alone is so significant. If we execute perfectly for 48 minutes & play a perfect game and the Warriors have a few mental lapses (and Curry is highly prone to these, as well as Green's temperament) we win those games.

 

Your opinion is your opinion. But Love can't handle the ball like a guard, can't intiate the offense, can't lead the fastbreak or create his own shot like Melo. Melo has a higher skillset as a PF and can also slide down to SF or even SG.

 

By far our biggest issue in my opinion, we got raped in the paint and gave up extremely easy points. Plus too many offensive rebounds where our guys didn't box out properly.

 

Plumlee waived by knicks.

 

With the addition of someone like Melo, who is an elite spot up shooter, the way to beat the Warriors is to beat them in their own game. Set multiple MOVING screens and go tit for tat in the shooting match up. Harden, Melo, and Gordon are a pretty formidable shooting trio.

 

Imagine if Dwight were still here also working on his 3's etc.

 

- Signed the entire 2017 WEST which failed to win a single playoff game against them

Warriors at this point are the most overwhelming favorites I've seen in my 30+ years following team sports

For pro oddsmakers, it's basically even to take GS for Champ vs THE FIELD
Never seen any team get those odds in any of 3 main pro leagues

Only phenomenon that I can recall like this is peak Tiger of late 90s
It was legit to have Woods vs The Field as even in Majors when he was literally winning over half of them over several years

 

Would be funny if the entire league voted to break apart GSW's roster for being "bad for business".

 

First I must say, I live in Portland and go to a few Blazer games a year, typically only to see the Rockets and a few other games. I can confirm that this rumor is true, I started hearing stuff last week about it, however the Blazers are big on Harkless and after the Trade with Denver last year. The fans and team clearly want to move on from Leonard. I think Melo is a upgrade offensively and Anderson would fit in great with the Blazers.

Also during the first round of the Playoffs last year, I was at dinner with the Family and Alan Crabbe sat at the Table next to me and the playoffs were on. I of course was decked out in my H-town gear. We made eye contact and he said something to the fact of Harden being unstoppable. We were chatting back and forth and said he almost became a Rocket? I asked what happened and he just said Ariza.

Don't know what the details were but thought he wouldn't have done well with his three point shot and is a good defender. Seems like a guy the Rockets would go after. Have pics to prove. He got a customized BMW delivered while we were there.

 

Has Filipino Krillin posted today?

 

ariza the better player for $7mil per year or Crabbe at almost $20 mil per year. touch choice

 

Odds are that way because there are suckers to be had.

You are wrong about the entire west, and I'm 100% certain you know it. They would not dream of sweeping even last season's healthy rockets or spurs. Not a chance in hell, and both those teams would have done better than the Cavs ended up doing. The Cavs played worse than they had ever played the Warriors, if I were GM, Lue would be looking for a job right now. Spurs or Rockets would have beaten the Cavs in the Finals. They were a puff pastry team, finishing 20 something in defense for the regular season.

Of course you are going to get your ass handed to you if you're the 3rd best offense and 20-something defense. I doubt there's a team in history that has won it all with that kind of garbage outing in the regular season - without any major injuries or and with an East-heavy 82 games. We were better than that, despite playing more difficult competition in the west, AND we have significantly upgraded this roster. We replaced Dekker, Harrell and Beverley with Paul and Tucker.

This narrative of the 2 teams, it's done. And I think Lebron knows it too, even though the media loves it. It's great for clicks. No one wants to publish that the 3 best teams in the NBA are in the West, destroying interest in 50% of the league. But that's the truth. If the Cavs were playing in the West, they would have won even less than their 51. Think about that. OKC won 47 in the West, CLE won 51 in the East.

Yes the Warriors are 4-0 and 4-0 good in the first 2 rounds. Doesn't change a word I said in my previous post. People are hysterical for no reason. Warriors struck it lucky because the next best team in the NBA lost its best player and its starting PG to injury.